The Questionnaire

The second generation of Japanese Nisei, who were born in the United States, were furious. Amidst other groups such as German and Italian-Americans, they were never questioned about their loyalty to the United States. But the Japanese communities were asked to prove theirs. They also knew that if their parents answered “no” on their questionnaires and they answered “yes”, it would result in a separation of their family (Ibid).

As we can see the wording of the questions were hard to read, especially Question 28, in which the extra words were there to purposely confuse them. Sansei (Japanese-born) who were not allowed U.S. citizenship were afraid to answer “no” on Question 28 because that would mean they would not have any claims to both countries, Japan and United States. This poorly worded questionnaire led to the quarrel among Japanese Sansei and Nisei as people were categorized according to their answers to Questions 27 and 28.